i 



CONDENSED PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 






SOUTHERN CONYENTION, 



HELD AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, JUNE, 18^0. 



Publislied by Authority. 



JACKSON, MISS. 

FALL <k MARSHALL, PRINTERS 

1850. 



B^'-^ 



Condensed Statement of the Proceedings of the 
Nashville Convention. 



This body asserabled at Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday the 
3d day of June, 1850. 

The following members appeared and took their seats : 

VIRGINIA. 

Willoiighby Newton, R. A. Claybrook, Wm. F. Gordon, W. 
O. Goode, Thos. S. Gholson and Beverly Tucker. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 
L. Cheves, R. W. Barnwell, J. H. Hammond, Samuel Otter- 
son, John A. Bradley, J. N. Whitner, H. C. Young, Maxcy 
Gregg, James Chesnut, jr., W. J. Hanna, R. F. W. AUston, F. 
W. Pickens, Drayton Nance, George A. Trenholm, William Du 
Bosa, D. F. Jamison and R. Barnwell Rhett. 

GEORGIA. 

Hon. Walter T. Colquitt, Hon. Chas. J. McDonald, Col. H. 
L. Bennining, M. P. Crawford, Esq., Obediah C. Gibson, Esq., 
Jas. W. Ramsey, Esqs, Obediah Warner, Esq., Simpson Fouche, 
Esq., Gen. Robert Bledsoe, Andrew H. Dawson, Esq., and Dr. 
John G. McWhertor, 

ALABAMA. 
Gov.'iB. Fitzpatrick, Jno. A. Campbell, Jno. A. Winston, L. 
P. Walker, Nicholas Davis, Jas. Abercrombi*^, W. M. Murphy, 
E. B. Bethea, B. Boykin, G. W. Gunn, J. Buford, R. C. Shorter, 
Geo. Goldthwaite, J. S. Hunter, Daniel Coleman, Wm. Cooper, 
R. Chapman, Thos. A. Walker, G. S. Walden, John Erwin, W. 
M.ByrdandT. A. Judge. 

MISSISSIPPI. 
Judge Wm. L.? Sharkey, C. P. Smith, A. M. Clayton, J. W. 
Matthews, T. J. Word, G. F. Neil, J. J. Pettus, J. J. McRea, E. 
C. Wilkinson, T. Jones Stewart and S. S. Boyd. 

TEXAS. 

J. Pincknt y Henderson. 

ARKANSAS. 

J. Powell and Samuel C. Roane. 



FLORIDA. 
B. M. Pearson, A. J. Forinan, M. Du Pout and J. F. McClellan. 
TENNESSEE. 

Col. R. Warner, R. Jones, W. A. Sewell, T. W. Brents, How- 
ell Taylor, Jus. L. Green, Thos. Shepard, Gen. W. Hall, Wm. 
B. Bate, E. Bndie, (Jeo. VV. Allen, (^eo. W. Winchester, Gen. 
D. Donel.son, Geo. W. Boml, Isaac .M. (iower, Bowling Gordon, 
S. B. Moore, Edward Gant, J. J. Whitfield, B. B. Satterfield, G. 
B. Fowlkes, Jas. Patterson, T. J. Kennedy, A. Ezell, Geo. T. 
Malone, F. T. .McLauren, Geo. Everly, Thos. Butord, Col. Jno. 
Dergan, D. R. S. Nowlin, N. Y. Cavitt. J. E. R. Hay, Jno. Poin- 
dexter, I.. H. Johnson, Dr. P. F. Norfleet, William Overton, 
Janies H. Estill, C. C. Garner, W. E. Venable, II. R. Estill, 
Thos. Jackson, (Jen. G.J. Pillow, William H. PoUi, W. J. Stray- 
horn, G. R. Gantt, A. J. Partee, W. C. Whillhorn, C. J. Dicken- 
son, Jas. Walker, F. Watkins, R. G. Payne, Pattillo Patton, R. 
A. L. Wilkes, E. Polk, S. D. Casev, Thos. H. Hopkins, W. P. 
Rowles, Wm. B. Hall, Wm. Moore, A. W. Overton, A. Fergu- 
son. Gov. A. V. Brown, A. O. P. Nicholson, V. K. Stevenson, 
William Williams, Dr. Jno. Maxey, J. J. B. Southall, Jno. Mcin- 
tosh, Dr. J. N. Esselman, Andrew J. Donel-son, WlUo. Williams, 
Jacob McGavock, Daniel (iraham, A. W. Johnson, Andrew Jack- 
son, W. G. Harding, Thos. Claiborne, L. P. Cheatham, W. E. 
Owen, M. liarrow, W. B. Shepherd, Gen. E. W, Hickman, L. 
Hunter, H. Atkinson, J. B. Clemments, T. D. Moseley, F. Ro- 
bertson. Gen. Daniel Donelson, West H. Humphreys, W. E. Wat- 
kins, Frank McGavock, Geo. W. Buchanan, Jno. T. Neil, Saml. 
Doke, Samuel H. Whitthorn, George M. Cunningham, E. L. 
Paget, J. ]M. Quarles, R. T. Gupton and John Stephens. 



Wm. L. Sharkey of Mississippi, was elected President of the 
Convention ; Charles J. McDonald of Georgia, Vice-President ; 
and Wm. F. Cooper and E. G. Eastman, Secretaries. 

On WeiHJcsday, June 5lh. a committee was appointed, to whom 
all resolutions introduced were referred. 

This conunitl'-e consisted of Mi-s>rs. Newton and (Gordon, of 
Virginia; Barnwell and Hammond, of South Carolina ; McDon- 
ald and Benning, of Georgia ; Cainpl)ell and Murphy, of Ala- 
bama ; Clayton and Boyd, of .Mississippi ; J. P. Henderson, of 
Texas ; Roane atid Powell, of Arkansas ; Pearson and Forman, 
of Floroda ; and A. V. Brown and Nicholson, of Tennessee. 

After receiving many resolutions relorred to them, the commit- 
tee, on the icili June, reported to the Convention, the following 
address and resolutions : 



ADDRESS 

To the People of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
■ Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Mississippi and Arlcansas : 

Fellow Citizens — In obedience to the commands of those we 
represent, we have assembled toj^ether to confer with each other 
concerning your relation with the General Government and the 
non-slavehokling States of the Union, on the subject of the insti- 
tution of slavery. We deem it proper to lay before you as briefly 
as the subject will permit, the result of our deliberations and 
councils. 

In order that your condition may be u)]derstood, and the con- 
clusions at which we have arrived be justly appreciated, it is ne- 
cessary briefly to refer to a few past transactions. 

It is now sixteen years since the institution of slavery in the 
South began to })e agitated ii\ Congress and assailed by our sis- 
ter States. Up to that time the people of the Northen States 
seem to have respected the rights reserved to the Southern States 
by the constitution, and to have acted under the conviction that the 
subject of slavery being beyond the legislation of Congress, all 
agitation with respect to it on the part of Congress, was equally 
forbidden by the constitution. But at this time, a portion of the 
people of the North began to assail, in Congress the institution of 
slavery, and to accomplish their object of dragging into the vortex 
of Congressional agitation, they claimed the right of petitioning 
Congress upon all subjects whatsoever. As a petition is only the 
first step in legislatiion, it was clear that a right to petition a legis- 
latve body, must be limited by its pov/ers of legislation. No one 
can have a right to ask of r'nother to do that wliich he has no 
moral or legal right to do. Nor can any tribunal have the power 
to receive and consider any matter beyond its jurisdiction. The 
claim, therefore, to present petitions to Congress on the subject of 
slavery, was considered by the Southern represesitatives generally, 
as an attempt indirectly, to assume jurisdiction over the subject it- 
self, in all parts of the Union. The object, without disguise, was 
the overthrow of slavery in the States ; but our assailants framed 
the petitions presented, chiefly against slavery in the District of 
Columbia and our Territories, and against what they call the in- 
ternal slave trade — that is the transmission of slaves from one 
Southern Slate to another. Conscious of the fatal tendency of 
the agitation of slavery in Congress to destroy the peace and sta- 
bility of the Union, an eftbrt was made, supported by a large por- 
tion of the Northern representatives, to suppress it by a rule in 
the House of Representatives, v.'hich provided that all petitions on 
the subject of slavery, should be neither considered, printed, or re- 
ferred. This rule was assailed by the people of the Northern 
States, as violating that clause of the constitution which prohibits 
Congress from passing laws to prevent the people from peaceably 
assembling and petitioning lor a redress of grievances. In De- 



cember, 1^11, this rule fell before the almost unanimoijs voice of 
the North ; and thus the unlimited power of introducing and con- 
sidering the subject of slavery in Congress, was :i«se:it.-iJ. In the 
mean time, the coiu'se of the Northern people showed clearly, 
that the a;L;itation of slavery in Congress was only on? of the 
means th'-y relied on to overthrow this instifuiion ihronghout the 
Union. Newspapers were set up amongst them, and lecturers 
were hired to go abroad to excite them against slavery in the 
t?outliern Slates. Oriianizalions were tbrmed to carry oft" slaves 
from tJie South, and to protect them by viol.mce from recapture. 
Althipiigh the constitution requires that fugitiv<' slaves, like fugi- 
tives Irom justice, should bo rendered- up by the States to which 
they may h;ivi' fled, the legislatui-es of almost every Northern 
Stale, faithless to this treaty stipulation between the States, pa.ssed 
laws designed and calculated to entirely defeat this provision of 
the constitution, without which the Union would never have ex- 
isted, and by these laws virtually nullified the act of 1794, passed 
by Congress to aid its enforcement. Not content with the agita- 
tion of slavery in political circles, the Northern people forced it 
also into the religious associations extending oVer the Union, and 
produced a separation ol-the Methodist and Baptist churches. Th^ 
result of all these various methods of absailing slavery in the 
Southern States was, that it became ihe grand topic of interest and 
discussion in Congress and out of Congress, and one of th':> most 
iniporlant elements of politics in the Union. Thus, an institution 
belonging to the Southern States exclusively, was wrestetl from 
their exclusive control ; and instead of that prot'^'ction which is the 
great object of all goverm"aents,and which the con dilution of the 
United States guarantees to all the States and their inslitutions, the 
Northern States, and Congress under their control, combined to- 
gether, to assail and destroy slavery in the South. The Southern 
States did nothing to vindicate their rights and arrest this course 
of things. The 3Iexican war broke out, and instead of that pa- 
triotic co-operatioi: of all sections of the Union, which would 
have taken place in the better days of the Republic, to bring it to 
a just and honorable conclusion, in the very rirst appropriation 
bill to carry it on, th'j North endeavored to tlirust the subjecj of 
slavery. Throughout the war, they kept up the agitation ; thus 
clearly manilesting their determinatian that the General Govern- 
ment, in none of its opei-ations, internal or external, shall l)e ex- 
empted from the introduction of this dangerous subject. The war 
closed with honor; and an immense territory was added to the U. 
States. Their previous threats were realised, and the non-shive- 
holding States immediately claimed the right to exchule the people 
ol the Southern Stages from all the territory acquired, and to ap- 
propriate it to thomsi'lves. If this pretension arose from a mere 
lust ol power, it would l>e hanl to bear the supL'riority and mas- 
tery it implie>*. It would degrade the Southern States from being 
the equals of iho Northern States, tf) a position of colonial infe- 
riority. But when your exclusion is not from a mere lust of power, 
but is only a l'urth'*r step in the progress of things, aiming at the 



abolition of slavery in the States, by the extension and multiplica- 
tion of non-slaveholding States in the Union, the pretension is seen 
to be as alarming as it is insulting. The Southern States, in their 
legislatures, set {*»rth with great unanimity the rights in our terri- 
tories belonging to them in common with the Northern States, and 
declared their determinauon to maintain them ; and finding in the 
Northern States no disposition to abate their demands, the Con- 
vention in which we are assembled, has been brouglit together to 
take counsel as to the cou.rse the Southern States should pursue, 
for the maintenance of their rights, liberty and honor. 

Such is a brief but imperfecc statement of past transactions, 
and they force upon us the question, in what condition do they 
place the Southern States ? And first, what is their condition in 
Congress ? The time was when our representatives in Congress, 
were neither offered, nor would they endure reproach in your be- 
half. But for many years past, they liave heard you in Congress 
habitually reviled by the most oppro])riou3 epithets on account of 
the institution of slavery. If their spirits are yet unbrolvcn, they 
must be chilled by a sense of huniiliation at the insults they daily 
receive as your representatives. You are arraigned as criminals. 
. Slavery is dragged into every del>ate, and Congress has l:)ecome 
little else than a grand instrument in the hands of abolitionists to 
degrade and ruin the South. Instead of peace and protection, ag- 
gression a,]id insult on the South characterise its proceedings and 
councils. And what is your condition, with respect to yonr sister 
States ? Where is that respect and comity, which (due from all 
nations to\v'ards each other) is more especially due from States 
bound together in a confederacy, and which was once displayed 
hi all their intercourse. Instead of respect and sympathy — de- 
nunciation and hostility, on account of your institution of slavery, 
have for years past characterised the communications addressed to 
you by the Northern Siate^'. And what is your condition in the 
Union ? The non-slaveholding States stand combined, not only to 
wrest from you your common property, but to place upon your 
front the brand of inferiority. You are not to extend, on account 
of your institutions, but they are to increase and multiply, that the 
shame and sin of slavery, may by their philanthropic agency, be 
extinguished fi-om amongst you. But the worst feature of your 
condition is, that it is progi-essue. As low and humiliating as 
it now may ]:>e, it is destined if not arrested, to "a lower deep." 
Every efiect is a cause, and the spirit of fanaticism brooks no de- 
lay in the progress it creates, li' you were to yield every thing 
the North nov/ requires — aiDolish slavery in the District of Colum- 
bia — sul^mit to be legislated pirates for conveying slaves from one 
State to another — let the trial be by jury and the writ of Habeas 
Corpus, wrest from you in ^he Northern States every fugitive 
slave — give up all your territories to swell Northern arrogance 
and predominance — would things stop there ' These are all 
means aiming at one great end — the abolition of slavery in the 
States. Surrendering one of these means you will but inflame 
the power by which another will bs exacted — and when all are 



8 

conqiierod, will tlie ovil be arrested? In fifty years, twenty new 
non-slaveholdin;,' States may l»o adder] to the Union, whilst some 
which are now slaveholding, may become non-slaveholding States. 
There, then, will be nn need as now, openly to put aside the con- 
stitution to reach their obj'-ct. If they will deign to do it, the 
non-slavehol<ling States will then have the power by two-thirds 
in Congress and three-tbiiilhs of the States, to amend the constitu- 
tion, and then have its express sanction to consummate their policy. 
Your condition is progressive. 

If' from the past transactions we have narrated, we learn our 
condition in the Union — they teach us also that our past policy of 
non-action and suljmission to aggression cannot bring us peace 
and safl-ty. ^\'hell the doors of Congress were thrown open to 
agitation on the .-ubject of slavery, if the Southern States had 
moved with energy to avert a state of things unconstitutional itself, 
and surely tending to bring the slave-holding and non-slaveholdlng 
States into collision — although late, it might not have been too 
late to stoj) subsequent encroachments upon our rights. But the 
Southern States were passive, and their forbearance has had the 
effect of inspiring the Northern people with the belief, either that 
we value a union with them more than we value the institution of 
slavery, or that we dare not move fiom a conscious inability to 
protect ourselves. You have ungenerously stood still, whilst your 
supporters and defenders of the constitution in I he Xoithern States, 
in their efforts to protect you from the agitation of slavery in Con- 
gress, have been politically annihilated or turned your foes. You 
have tamely acquiesced, until to hate and persecute the South, has 
become a high passport to honor and power in the Union. You 
have unwisely stood still, whist year after jear the volume of anti- 
slavery policy and sympathy has swollen into unanimity through- 
out all the nnn-slavi'holding States, and the sections of the Union 
now face each other in siern collision. You have waited, until 
the constitution of thr* United States is in danger of being abol- 
ished — or of becoming what the majority in Congress think pro- 
per to make it. That great principle on which our system of free 
government re«ts — of so dividing the powers of (lovernment — 
that to a common Government, only those powers should be 
grnnted, whirh must afV^ct all the people composing it, equally in 
their o]»er.a'ion — whilst all powers over all interests local or sec- 
tional, should be resorvcd to local or sectional governments — is 
in dangiT of bei)i:r uprooted from the constitution. Local and sec- 
tional interests absorl) the time and Imsiness of Con:;ress, and 
thus, a sectional despotism, totally irresponsible to the people of 
the Sfiuth — constituted of the representatives in Congress from the 
non-slaveholding States — ignorant of our feelings, romlition and 
institutions — reigns at Washington. These are the fruits of your 
past forbearance and submission. 

If we ItKjk into the nature of things, such results will not seem 
to be either new or strange. There is but one condition, in whi^h 
one people ran be safe under the dominion of another people ; 
and that is when their interests arc cntirelv identical. Then, the 



dominant cannot oppress the subject people, without oppressing 
themselves. The identity of interest between them, is the secu- 
rity for right government. But as this identity can scarcely ever 
exist between any two people, history bears but one testimony as 
to the fate of a "subject people. They have always been com- 
pelled to minister to the prosperity and aggrandizement of their 
masters. If this has always been the case under the ordinary 
difference, of interests and feelings which exist between States, 
how much more certainly must the experience of history be real- 
ized, between the people of the Northern and^Southern States. 
Here is a difference of climate and productions throughout a terri- 
tory stretching along the whole belt of the temperate zone, at^ect- 
ing the pursuits and characters of the people inhabiting it. But 
the great ditlerence— the one great difference— the greatest which 
can exist among a people, is the institution of slavery. This alone 
sets apart the Southern States as a peculiar people— with whom 
independence as to their internal policy, is the condition of their 
existence. They must rule themselves, or perish. Every colony 
in the world where African slavery existed, with one exception, has 
been destroyed ; and if this has been the case under the old and 
effete governmets of Euroi^e, will it not prevail under the dominion 
of the restless people of the Northern States ? They do not prac- 
tically recognise the inferiority of the African to the Caucasian 
icaces. They do not realise, because the circumstances of their 
(condition do not compel them to realise, the impossibility of an 
umalgamaticn between the races. Exempt from the institution of 
slavery, it is not surprising that their sympathies should be against 
us, whilst the dogma on which they profess to build their system 
of free government — the absolute rule of the majority — leaves no 
barrier to their power in the affairs of the General Government, 
and leads them to its consolidation. - Religion too, false or real-— 
fires their enthusiasm against an institution, which many of its 
professors believe to be incon:>istent with its principles and pre- 
cepts. To expect forbearance from such a people, under^ such 
circumstances, towards the institution of slavery, is manifestly 
vain. If they have been false to the compact made with us in the 
constitution, and have allowed passion and prejudice to master 
reason, they have only exemplified that frailty and fallibility of our 
nature, which have produced the necessity of all governments, and 
which, if unchecked, ever produces wrong. The institution of 
slavery having once entered the popular mind of the non-slave- 
holding States, for action and control, the rest is inevitable. It 
unrestrained by us, they will go on, until African slavery will be 
swept from the broad and fertile South. The nature of things, 
therefore, indpendent of experience, teaches us that there can be 
no safety in submission. 

To submit to evils, however great, whilst they are end^rab^^ is 
the disposition of every people — especially of an agricultural peo- 
ple, living apart, and having no association in their pursuits. But 
the responsibility of preserving a free government rests with all 
its members, whatever may be their pursuits, and not alone with 



10 

those wlio have the j>.o\ver or the will to deslroy il. A minority, 
hy siibinis.-ioii, may as much betray the constituliou, as a majority 
by ag^'ressioii. The constiiiitiou does not protect a majority ; for 
they have all the powers of the government in their hanilsaiid can 
protect themselves. The limitations of a constitution are designed 
to prot<'ci the minority — those who have no power, against those 
who have it. Hence, the great motive an^i duty of self-pnjtcc*ioa 
is peculiar to a minority, independent of that fai'h to the constitu- 
tion which they owe in common with the majority. They must 
protect themselves, and protect the constitution ; and if they fail 
in this double duty, they are at least as culpable as those who, in 
ag;LCressing upon their right-, overthrow the constitution. And the 
publii- opinion ol the world is in conformity with these views. The 
oppressor is hated — but the unresistingly oppressed is despisijd. 
More respect loliows the tyrant, than the slave who sulimits to his 
power. The Southern States, therefore, although a minority, are 
not exempt trom the responsibility of preserving the constitution, 
and, in preserving it, to protect themselves. 

In what v.ay shall they preserve the constitution and protect 
themselves? 

As a general rule, it Is undoubtedly true, that when, in a govern- 
ment like ours, a constitution is violated by a majority, who alone 
can violate it in matters of legislation, it cannot be restored to its 
iutei-rrity through the ordinary means of the government ; for these 
nie..u>, Iieing under the control of the majority, arc not available 
to the minority. It is for this reason, that frequent elections of our 
rulers take place in our system of free government, in order thnt 
the people, by their direct intervention, may change the majority. 
But this resource cannot avail i:s in the violations of the constitu- 
tion, which now press and harass the South. By changing their 
representatives, how can the people of the South affect the majori- 
ty in Congreps and restore the constitution ? Their representa- 
tives are true, and have done all that mon can do, to preserve the 
constitution from the aggressions of the ma-jority. Removing 
•'' '■. and putting other representatives in Congress, could have no 
in restoring the constitution. It has been liroken by the 
-entatives of the people of the Northern States, who sustain 
• ii» their violations of the constitution. It is clear that the 
'•box in the South is powerless tor its protection. And the 
causes which induced the violations of the constitution by 
llie Northern majority, prevent its restoration to its integrity. 
Throughout the Northern States, there has been no indication of 
any chiinge in their policy. On 'he contrary, the majority against 
the South is great-r in the present Congress tlnn in the last, fol- 
lowing the usual course of every successive election for years past. 
.N'or have we seen in the action of the States, with tew excep- 
tions, any proof of a returning sense of justice to us, or of rever- 
ence for the constitution. Several of them, lest false inference- 
uii^'ht be drawn as to their position, have taken care lately to reit- 
crate in the most oflensive fonns their former declarations against 
our rights ; and when a great senator, representing one of them, 



11 

anxious for the perpetuation of the Union, has ventured to advocate 
something of justice to the South, he has been rebuked by the le- 
gislature of the State he represents, and virtually denounced for 
his fidelity to the constitution. This resource, then, under the 
ordinary operations of the constitution, is of no avail. And how 
is it with the present Congress, the only other source of redress 
in the usual adniinistratiou of the constitution ? For six months 
it has been in session, and during this whole period of time slavery 
has been the absorbing topic of discussion and agitation, let 
nothing has been done to heal the discontents which yo ju:-tly ex- 
ist ia the South, or restore a bleeding constitution. All we have 
received has been liitter denunciations of our institutions by many 
members of Congress, and threats to coerce us into submission. 
Although nothing has been done, a report has been made in the 
Senate by a committee of thirteen members, which is now pend- 
ing in that body ; and as the measures it proposes have been 
pressed upon the South as worthy of her acceptance, we deem it 
proper to lay Ijefore you a. brief consiJerrtion of the matters it 
contains. 

This report embraces four distinct measures — 1st, the admi=^sion 
of California as a State, with the exclusion of slavery in her con- 
stltution. 2d. Territorial governments to be erected over the 
Terriiories of Utah and New Mexico, with nearly one-half of 
of Texas to be added to the latter. 3d. The prohibition of the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia ; and 4th. Provisions for 
the recapture ot fugitive slaves in the ncn-slaveholding States. 
To understand whether these measures are consistent with our 
tialiis and vv-orthy of our acceptance, each of them must be con- 
sidered separately. 

The South is excluded by the bill from the whole of that part 
of California lying on the Paciiic, including one hundred and fifty 
thou.>and square miles of teriitory ; and if this is done by the 
legislation of Congress, the mode in which it is done, is of no 
importance. Caliibrnia belongs to the United States, and all ac- 
tion by the individuals in that territory, whether from the United 
States or from the rest of the world, appropriating the soil to 
themselves or erecting a government over it, is of no validity. 
They constitute a people in no premier sense of the term ; but are 
citizens of the States or countries from which they have come, 
and to which they still owe their ellegiance. When, therefore, 
Congress attempts to carry out and confirm the acts of these indi- 
viduals, erecting California into a State and oxcluding slavery 
therefrom, it is the same thing as if Congress had originally passed 
a law to this effect, without the intervention of those individuals. 
The exclusion of slavery from California is done by the act of 
Congress, and by no other authority. The constitution of Cali- 
fornia becomes the act of Coiigrc-s ; and the Wilraot proviso it 
contains, is the Wilmot proviso passed and enforced by the legis- 
lation of Congress. Here, then, is that exclusion from this terri- 
tory by the act of Congress, which almost every Southern State 
in the Union has declared she would not submit to, plainly and 



:> 



12 

practically (^ntiiiced by tliis bill. A froo people cannot be satisfied 
with tho mode in which they are deprived of their rights. A sov- 
crcigii Stale will disdain to enquire in what manner i^he is strip- 
ped of her jtroperty, and degraded from an equality with her sister 
i^Jtates. It is enough that the outrage is done. The mode is of 
little consecjuence. There is, therefore, in the mode of extending 
the Wiiniot proviso over the territory of California presented by 
the bill, nothing to mitigate the indignation of the Southern States, 
or to bailie their doteiniiinition to redress the wrong, if inflicted. 
They are excluded Ironi the whole territory of California, a terri- 
tory extensive enough to contain four large States. 

ll" the constitution proposed by California contained nothing 
about slavery, would the North allow her to enter the Union ? 
Such were the territorial bills proposed for California at the last 
Conirress. but they rejected them, because the South was not ex- 
cluded from this territory, in express terms. The inhabitants of 
this territory have been hft without any civil government, solely 
because the South would not consent Jo be legislated out of them 
with her institutions and now that this oliject is accomplished by 
the constitution presented by Calitbrnia, these conservatives — 
these advocates of law and order — are eager to admit her, with- 
out right or precedent, into the Union. We are aware of the in- 
conveniencies the inhabitants of California may have suffered tor 
want of a civil government established Ijv Concress, and there- 
lore, are prepared to yield much on account of the circumstances 
in which they have been placed. 

The next measure is in perfect keeping with this first feature of 
"the report."' It takes from Texas, territory suflicient for two 
large States, and adds them to New Mexico. What the Ijill con- 
tains with respect to slavery will be of little consequence, for it is 
designed that next winter New Mexico thus constituted, shall fol- 
low the example of California, and be a'imitted a& a State with a 
constitution exfluding slavery from its limits — lor xvithout such 
exclusion she cannot hope to be admitted by the non-slaveholding 
States into the Union. The effect will be that territory, over 
whi< h slavery now exists, equal to two States, xvill be wrested 
from the South, and will be given up to the non-slaveholding 
States. 'J'he jiretext is, that there is some doubt as to the boun- 
daries of Texas. Texas, fjy her laws, when she was admitted 
into the I'nion, had but one boumlary towards the West, and that 
boundary was the Rio (irande. Congress, in the resolutions ad- 
milling her into the I nion, recognised this boiuulary, by laying 
down a line of limitation between the slaveholding and non- 
slaveholding States — (l)eing the .Missouri compromise line of 36 
deg. :\0 min. parallel of North latitude) — through tiiat very part of 
her territory, her right to which is now questioned. Her boun- 
dary o| thi' Rio (Jrande to its source, alone gave her this country; 
and was thus recognised and ratified f)y the resolutions of annex- 
ation, 'i'o vindicate this botnidary for Texas, as a member of tlie 
Union, tiie Mexican war took place ; and in the treaty of Ciuada- 
loupc Hidalgo, it was finally vindicated and settled by a clause in 



13 

the treaty, designating the Rio Grande as the boundary between 
Mexico and the United States. Thus, by the laws of Texas, by 
the legislation of Congress, and by a solemn treaty of the United 
States, the Rio Grande is the western boundary of Texas. Yet 
the pretension is set up, that her territory does not extend to within 
three hundred miles of the Missouri compromise line, where Con- 
gress, in receiving her into the Union, determined that her terri- 
tory should be divided between the slaveholding and non-slave- 
holding States. Texas is the only State in the Union which has 
the solemn guarantee of the government of the United States in 
every possible form of her boundaries. Yet this is the Govern- 
ment which disputes them ; and under the pretext that they are 
very doubtful, proposes to take from her nearly one-half of her ter. 
ritory. It is by virtue of such pretensions, that by the bill two 
States are to be taken from the Southern and given to the North- 
ern States ; and this wrong is aggravated by compelling us to pay 
for it, through the treasury of the United States. 

It is undoubtedly proper, that Texas should be quiotted as to her 
boundaries ; but she should be quieted by a law of Congress, 
plainly acknowledging them. If after her boundaries are scttfed, 
the General Government, to carry out the purposes of the consti- 
tution, or in good faith to fulfil all the obligations the annexation 
of Texas to the Union requires, should think proper to purchase 
any territory from Texas, the arrangement may be unobjectiona- 
ble. But any arrangement concerning her territories, which 
leaves a shade of doubt as to the right of the people of the South 
to enter any portion of the territory, which according to the terms 
of annexation are now free to them, neither Texas nor the Gen- 
eral Government have any right to make. The terms of annexa- 
tion constitute the compact of Union between Texas and the 
. other States of the confederacy — and this compact secures irrevo- 
cably to the people of the slaveholding States, the right of enter- 
ing with their property all her territory lying south of 36 deg. 
30 min. north latitude — whilst from all her territory north of that 
line, they are excluded. The bill in the Senate makes no provi- 
sion for carrying out these terms of the compact, but leaves in 
doubt the right of the Southern people, throughout all the territory 
proposed to be purchased ; whilst many who support the bill, de- 
clare that, in effect, it excludes entirely the people of the Southern 
States from all the territory purchased. The least evil, therefore, 
the bill can bring to the people of the Southern States on entering 
it, will be contention, harassment and litigation. 

But you will have a very inadequate conception of the impor- 
tance of the territory taken from Texas by the bill, if you confine 
your views to Texas. If you will look at the map of the United 
States, you will perceive that the territory proposed to be surren- 
dered by Texas lies throughout its whole extent along the western 
frontier of the Indian territory. This is now a slaveholding coun- 
try, and must be considered as a part of the South. Place along 
their whole western Vjoundary two non-slaveholding States, and 
how long will the Indians be able to maintain the institution of 



14 

slavery ? If the agency of Congress is not used to abolish directly 
slavery in the Indian territory, this end can be easily accomplished 
by the very means now in operation against slavery in the South- 
ern States, which the Indian will have but little power to resist. 
The etll'ct will be, that the Indian territory, large enough for two 
more States, will be controlled by the non-slaveholding States. 
Thus by these two points in the report, the South will lose four 
large States in California — two in Texas, and two in the Indian 
territorv- Nor is this all. The non-slaveholding States will be 
brought to the western boundary of Missouri and Arkansas, along 
thfir whole extent, and will bound Texas on her whole northern 
and western frontier. Thus tlie Southern States will be hemmed 
in by the non-slaveholding States on their whole western border — 
a policy which they have declared essential to the end of abolish- 
ing slavery in the Southern Stati's. What can compensate the 
South, for such enormous wrong and poliation ? 

Hut this is not the end of your concessions by this report. We 
must not only yield to the interests, but to the prejudices of the 
Northern people. Slavery existed in the District of Columbia 
when Congress accepted the cession of the territory composing it 
from the States of Maryland and Viruinia. No one can suppose 
that Marylantl and Virginia, slaveholding States then, and slave- 
holding States now, could have designed to give Congress any 
power over the institution of slavery in this territory. Indepen- 
dently of the wrong to the peo])le of the District, to emancipate 
their slaves, it would be an intolerable evil to have a District be- 
tween them, where emancipation .prevails by the authority of 
Congress. Congress, in the bill reported as a part of the so-called 
cojupromise, now begins the work ol emancipation by declaring 
that if any slave is brought into the District for sale, he shall be 
♦' lil»erated and set free."' If a slave is liberated because he is 
brought into thr District., the next step, to liberate him because he 
is in the Dislrirt, Is not difficult. 'Hie power to emancipate the 
slaves in the District of Columbia is thus claimed and exercised 
by Congress. .Many of the ablest men of the South have denied 
that (Congress possesses any sueh power, whilst all agreed, until 
lately, tha« tor Congress to interlbre with this institution, whilst 
slavery existed in Maryland and Virginia, would be a gross breach 
of faith towanls those States, and an outrage upon the whole 
South. Flow long will that facility whieh yields to the prejudice 
against the buying and selling of slaves be able to resist the 
greater prejudice which exists against the holding of slaves at all 
in the District of ('olumbia? 

For all these sacrifices to the interests and prejudices of the 
people of the North, the South is tendered the last measure of the 
comproTuise — the tiigitive slave bill as they pr<ipose to amend it. 
To understand the extent of the concession the South receives on 
this point, we must look to the rights the constitution confers. 

Tlie framers of the constitution were pertectly aware that the 
Ceneral Covenunent could have but little poxver to .«ecure to them 
their tnijitiv*' slaves in the non-slaveholding States. The whole 



15 

internal police of a State must be under the control of the State, 
and by this chiefly could slaves bo recaptured. The constitution, 
therefore, not reiyin<i on the legislation of Congress alone, requires 
that a fugitive slave, escaping into a non-slaveholding State, shall 
be "delivered upon the claim of the party " to whom he belongs. 
Fugitive slaves are put on the footing of fugitive criminals, and 
are to be delivered up by the State authorities. If these author!- 
ties do not enforce the requirements of the constitution, and aid in 
the recapture and recovery of fugitive slaves. Congress can do but 
little to enforce them. ""I'he bilf providing for the co-operation of 
'the few officers of the United States government in a State, is 
practically quite insufficient to accomplish its aim. What can 
they do in such a State as Pennsylvania, to recover fugitive slaves ? 
Yet, if Congress does all that it can do, by legislation, to enforce 
the constitution, it only does its duty to the South. There can be 
no concession or favor to the South, in giving her only what she 
has a right to have under the constitution — unless, indeed, the con- 
stitution for her has no existence. The bill then, is, in the first 
place, quite inadequate to restore to us our fugitive slaves, and in the 
second place, gives the South nothing but what she is entitled to. If 
this was all, there would be nothing in the bill for which we should 
concede any thing to the North. But it is not. all. Under the 
pretext of bestowing on us a benefit, it perpetrates a usurpati'.n on 
the reserved rights of the States. It provides that a sltne may ar- 
raign his master, by the authority oi" laws made by Congrees, be- 
fore the courts of the States and of the United States, to try his 
I right to his freedom. If Congress can legislate at all between 
; the master and slave in a State, where can its power i^e stayed ? 
i It can abolish slavery in the States. Thus a power is assumed in 
! the bill which virtually extends the jurisdiction of Congress over 
I slavery in the States. And this is a benefit, to the South ! Under 
a guise of a benefit, the bill is useless as a remedy — and worse 
than useless in its usurpations. Such are the various measures 
which constitute this compromise. 

We do not believe that many of those in th° South, who at an 
early day expressed a willingnes to suftport it, had well considered 
its import, or ever contemplated supporting it without material 
amendments. We folly appreciate and duly honor the motives of 
those who would restore tranquility to the country, mir shall \v<^ 
I impugn in any form those who have assisted to tVame or who have 
yielded a support to the measures. Why the nijn-slaveholding 
States do not support these measures, we are unable to understand, 
unless it be, that a haughty fanaticism, inflated with success, dis- 
dains accomplishing its objects by indirection. If these measures, 
however, were really a compromise in which the South had equal 
gains with the North, it would be of doubtful expediency for the 
South to propose it. Three times in Congress, during this con- 
troversy, the South has proposed the Missouri compromise, which 
has been three times rejected by the North. Twice she has pro- 
posed a compromise by which she consented to leave it to the 
courts of the United States to determine her ri'jhts. Instead of 



requiring sternly their recognition by Congress, fifteen sovereign 
Stales have consented to be carried into the courts of the country, 
and thereto submit theii- sovcp'igii rights in a territory belonging 
to them, to their final arbitrament. Their humiliation did not win 
the respect or confidence of the North, and the proposition was 
twice rejected. 

The South, in our opinion, might accept one other comin-omise, 
no* because it is coextensive with oui rights, but because it has 
been twice sanctioned by those who have gone Ijefore us. If the 
North oflers the Missouri coin[)romise, to extend to the Pacific 
ocean, the South cannot reject it, provider! a distinct recognition 
of our right to enter the territory south of 136 deg. 30 min. north 
latitude, is expressed in the compromise. We should take this 
line, as a partition line between the two sections of the Union ; 
and beside this, nothing but what the constitution bestows. Al- 
though the Northern States would acquire by this compromise, 
three-fourths of our vacant territory, they will have renounced the 
in-ufl'erable pretension of restricting and preventing the extension 
of the South, whilst they should extend indefinitely. 

Having thus, fellow-citizens, laid before you a statement of your 
condition — your rights — and the remedy which, under present cir- 
cumstances, you ^-hould accept, we leave you fi)r a brief sjiace of 
time. It is proper to state to you, that while we are unanimous in 
approving the resolutions accompanying this address, tlie Deh'gates 
to this Convention are not entirely unanimous in approving all the 
arguments contained in it, particularly such as relate to the com- 
promise bill pending in the United States Senate, though none are 
in favor of that bill, unless it be amended in confHmity with our 
resolutions, or in such manner as shall substantially secure to the 
South the right asserted in them. Until Congress adjourns, we 
cannot know what it will do, or will fail to do. We must, there, 
fore, meet again after its adjournment, to consider the final condition 
in which it will leave you. We recommend to you, and exhort you 
to send Didegates from every county and district in the Southern 
States to meet us when we again assembler It is no ordinary oc- 
casion which has assembled us together. The Constitution and 
the Union it created, so long (k\ar to your hearts, are to be |)re- 
served, and your liberties and your institutions maintained. 



RESOLUTIONS. 

1. Resolved, That the territories of the United States belong to 
the people of the several States of this L'nion as th<ir conunon 
property. That the citizens of the several States have ecjual 
rights to migrate witii their property to these territories, and are 
equally entitled to th<^ protection of the Federal Government in 
the enjoyment of that pmperty so long as the territories remain 
under the charge of thai government. 

2. Resiilvcit, Tliat Congress has no power to exclude from the 



17 

territory of the United States any property lawfully held in the 
States of the Union, and any act which may be passed by Con- 
gress to effect this result is a plain violation of the constitution of 
the United States. 

3. Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide proper 
government for the territories, since the spirit of American insti. 
tutions forbids the maintainance of military governments in time 
of peace, and as all lavvs heretofore existing in territories once be- 
longing to foreign powers which interfere w ilh the liiU enjoyment 
of religion — the freedom of the press — the trial by jury and all 
other rights of persons and property as secured or recognised in 
the constitution of the United States are necessarily void so soon 
as such territories become American territories, it is the duty of 
the Federal Goveriunent to make early provision tor the enact- 
ment of those laws which may be expedient and necessary to se- 
cure to the inhabitants of and emigrants to such territories the full 
benefit of the constitutional rights we assert. 

4. Resolved, That to protect, pi'operty existing in the several 
States of the Union, the people of these States invested the Fed- 
eral Government with the powers of war and negotiation, and of 
sustaining armies and navies, and prohibited to State authorities 
the exercise of the same powers. They made no discrimination 
in the protection to be afiijrded, or the description of the property 
to be defended, nor was it allowed to the Federal Government to 
determine what should be held as property. Whatever the States 
deal with as property, the Federal Government is liound to recog- 
nise and defend as such. 'J'heretbre, it is the sense of this Con. 
vention. that all acts of the Federal Government which tend to de- 
nationalise property of any description recognised in the Consti- 
tution and laws of the States, or that discriminate in the degree 
and efficiency of the protection to be afforded to it, or which 
weaken or destroy the title of any citizen upon American territo- 
ries, are plain and palpable violations of the fundamental law un- 
der which it exists. 

5. Resolved, That the slaveholding States cannot and will not 
submit to the enactment by Congress of any law imposing onerous 
conditions or restraints upon the rights of masters to remove with 
their property into the territories of the United States, or to any 
law making discriminations in favor of the proprietors of other 
property against them. 

6. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government 
plainly to recognise and firmly to maintain the equal rights of the 
citizens of the several States in the territories of the United 
States, and to repudiate the power to make a discrimination be- 
tween the proprietors of different species of property in Federal 
legislation. The fulfilment of this duty by the Federal Govern- 
ment, would greatly tend to restor'^ the peace of the country, and 
to allay the exasperation and excitement which now exist between 
the different sections of the Union. For it is the deliberate 
opinion of this Convention, that the tolerance Congress has given 
to the notion that federal authority might be employed incidentally 



18 

and indirecJiy to sulivert or weaken the institutions existing in the 
States cont"t'Ks«'dly beyond f«^<'ral jurisdiction and control, is a 
main cause of the discord which menaces the eiistence of the 
Union, and which has well njiih destroyed the efficient action of 
the Federal (iovernnient itselt. 

7. Resolved, That thf perlbrmance of this duty is required by 
the fundamt'ntal law ot the Lnioii. The equality of the people of 
the sevnal States composing the Union cannot be disturbed with- 
out disturbiiijr the frame ot tlie American institutions. This prin- 
ri[)le is violated in tlie denial of the citizens of the slaveholding 
States of power to cuter into the territories with the jjroperty 
lawfully ac<pjired in the States. The warfare ajrainst this right is 
a war upon the constitution. The defenders of this right, are de- 
fenders of the constitution. Those who deny or impair its exer- 
cise, are nnfaitlitiii to tiie constitution, and if disunion follows the 
destruction ot the right, tliev are the disuiiionists. 

8. Resolved, That the performance of its duties upon the prin- 
ciple we declare, would enable Congress to remove the embrrass- 
mentsin which the country is now involved. The vacant territo- 
ries of the V' nited States, no longer regarded as prizes for sec- 
tional rapacity and ambition, would be gradually occupied by in- 
habitants drawn to them Ijy their interests and t'eeliiig-i. The in- 
stitutions litted to them woidd be naturally applied by governments 
formed on American idi'as and approved by the deliberate choice 
of their constituents. Tiie community would be educated and 
disciplined under a rtpublican administration in habits of self- 
governmi-nt, and titted lor an association as a State, and to the en- 
joyment of" a place in the confederacy. A community so formed 
and organized, might well claim admission to the Union and none 
would dis|)ute the validity of the claim. 

9. Resolved, That a recognition of this principle, would de- 
prive the questions between Texas and the United Sates of their 
sectional character, and wtjuld leave them for adjustment without 
disturbance from sectional pnjudices and passions, upon consider- 
ations of magnanim.ty and justice. 

10. Resolved, That a recognition of this principle would intUse 
a spirit of conciliation in the discussion and adjustment of all the 
subjects of sectional dispute, which would afli>rd a giiaratee of an 
early and satisfactory determination. 

11. Ri sol vrd, 'l'\iM ill the c\enl a donunant majority shall re* 
fuse to recognise the great constitutional rights wc assert, and shall 
continue to deny the obligations of the Kederal (iovenmient to 
maintain them, it is the sense of this Convention that the territo- 
ries should be treated as properly, and divided between the sec 
lions of the I nion, so that the rights of' both sections be ade- 
quately secured in their respective shares. That we are awar^ 
this C(»urse is open to iirave olijeclions, but we are ready to acqui- 
esce in the adoption ot the line of .'lb degree 1)0 minutes north 
latitude, extending to the Pacific ocean, as an extreme con. 
cession, upon < on-iiieraiimi* of what is due to the stability of our 
institutions. 



19 

12. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention this 
controversy should be ended, either by a recognition of the consti- 
tutional rights of the Southern people, or by an equitable partition 
of the territories. That the spectacle of a confederacy of States, 
involved in quarrels over the fruits of a war in which the Ameri- 
can arms were crowned with glory, is humiliating. That the in- 
corporation of the Wiln;uPt Proviso in the offer of settlement, a 
proposition which fourteen States regard as disparaging and dis- 
honorable, is degrading to the country. A termination to this 
controversy by the disruption of the confederacy, or by the aban- 
donment of the territoritories to prevent such a result, would be a 
climax to the shame which attaches to the controversy which it is 
the paramount duty of Congress to avoid. 

13. Resolved, That this Convention will not conclude that Con- 
gress will adjourn without making an adjustment of this contro- 
versy, and in the condition in which the Convention finds the 
questions before Congress, it does not feel at liberty to discuss the 
methods suitable for a resistance to measures not yet adopted, 
which might involve a dishonor to the Southern States. 

14. Reeolved, That the true boundaries of the State of Texas 
are defined in the treaty of May 14th, 1830. signed by the Presi- 
dent of Texas and the members of the cabinet thereof, on the one 
part, and by the authorised representatives of the government of 
Mexico, on the other part, setting forth the lines of demarcation 
in the tbllowing words, to wit : " The line shall commence at the 
estuary or mouth of the Rio Grande, on the western bank thereof, 
and shall pursue the same bank up the said river, to the point 
where the river assumes the name of Rio Bravo del Norte, from 
which poiut it shall proceed on the said western bank to the head 
waters or source of said river, it being understood that the terms 
Rio Grade and Rio Bravo del Norte apply to and designate one 
and the same stream. From the source of said river, the princi- 
pal head branch being taken to ascertain that source, a due north 
line shall be run until it shall intersect the boundary line estab. 
lished and described in the treaty negotiated by and between the 
government of Spain and the government of the United States of 
the North ; which line was subsequently transferred to and adopt- 
ed in the treaty of limits made between the government of Mexi- 
co and that of the United States ; and fi-om this point of intersec- 
tion the line shall be the same that was made and established in 
and by the several treaties above mentioned, to continue to the 
mouth or outlet of the Sabine river, and from 'thence to the Gulf 
of Mexico." That the said State of Texas asserted sovereign au- 
thority over all territory comprehended withtn the boundary set 
forth in the foregoing resolution before the date of the recognition 
of her independence by the government of the United States, and 
before the date of her annexation to the United States ; and her 
claim to these boundaries, was well known to the government of 
the United States, as evidenced by a map distinctly setting them 
forth, published for the use of our government, at the time of the 
annexation of Texas, and extensively circulated by members of 



20 

Congress and other public agent.s. That by the terms of the joint 
resohition tor anm-xing Texas to the I nited States, it is expressly 
provided that the government of the United States should have 
power to adjust all questions of boundary which might arise with 
other governments ; that no such question of boundary has been 
adjusted with any other government, so as to contract or vary the 
boundaries of Texas. That Mexico, by the the treaty of (luada- 
lupe Hidalgo, exprciisly relin(|uished all claim to all territory com- 
prehtnded within the boundaries heretofore described, whereby 
the claim of Texas became settled, and her jurisdiction and au- 
thority became complete. That the State of 'I'exas should not be 
hindred or disturbed by any authority whatever, in the exercise of 
all such sovereign and supreme power over all territory within her 
limits as may be lawfully exercised by any other sovereign Stale of 
the confederacy over territory within its ascertained limits. 

I'j. Resolved, Thai all the territory within the limits of the State 
of Texas, t)eing now slaveholding territory, it is of vital impor- 
tance to the Southern States that no portion of it should be trans- 
ferred to the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, without the 
most explicit declaration, that the same shall be slave territory 
in the hands of the United States, as fully as it now is in the hands 
of Texas. That no agreement between the United States and 
Texas tor a cession to the former of a part of the territory of the 
latter, should discharge the Government of the United States from 
the oldigations to admit into the Union four new States, to be ere. 
ated on the territory of Texas, with the institution of slavery, and 
provision should be made in the article of cession to preserve said 
obligation. 

16. Resolved, That it is the duty of the whole South to oppose 
the attempt of Northern fanatics to get possession of any part of 
the territory rightfully belonging to Texas, for the purpose of ex- 
cluding therefrom the people of the South, and especially the Tex- 
ans themselves. 

17. Resolved, That while the position of Texas, in the very 
breach through which this assault may be made on the constitu- 
tional rights of the South, entitles her to the assurance of cordial 
and resolute support trom every slaveholding State, these States 
have a like right to expect that she will not be so false to herself, 
and regardless of their intere.sts, as to accept any .sum of money 
a.s a consideration lor a<imitting an enemy within her gates, and 
establishing there a .stronghold of abolition, and a harbor tor fugi- 
tive slaves. 

1"^. Resiihed, That the right of the people of Texas to form at 
the proper time, with the consent of that State, lour new slave- 
holding States, in addition to said State of Texas, out of the terri. 
tory thereot, is clear and unquestionalile, and cannot be strength- 
ened by any mere legislative construcliou or guarantee. 

19. RcsolvetL, That the whole legislative power of the United 
State.s Government is derived from the constitution and delegated 
to Congre.ss, and cannot be increased or diminished but by an 
amendment of the constitution. 



21 

20. Resolved, That the acquisition of territory by the United 
States, whether occupied or vacant, either by purchase, conquest 
or treaty, adds nothing to the legislative power of Congress, as 
granted and limited in the constitution. 

21. Resolved, That the adoption of a foreign law existing at the 
time, in territory purchased, ceded or granted, is the exercise of 
legislative power, and cannot be done unless the law is of such a 
character as might rightfully be enacted by Congress under the 
constitution, without reference to its pre-existence as a foreign 
law. 

22. Resolved, That the alleged principle of the law of Nations, 
recognising, to some extent, the perpetuation of foreign laws in 
existence within a territory at the time of its acquisition, by pur- 
chase, conquest or treaty, cannot, under our constitution and form 
of government, go to the extent of continuing in force, in such 
territory, any law that could not be directly enacted by Congress, 
by virtue of the powers of legislation delegated to it by the con- 
stitution. 

23. Resolved, That no power of doing any act or thing by any 
of the departments of our Government, can be based upon the 
principles of any foreign law, or of the law of nations, beyond 
what exists in such department under the constitution of the 
United States, without reference to such foreign law or the laws 
of Nations. 

24. Resolved, That slavery exists in the United States inde- 
pendent of the constitution. That it is rcognised by the consti- 
tution in a threefold aspect, first, as property ; second, as a do- 
mestic relation of service or labor under the law of a State ; 
and lastly, as a basis of political power. And viewed in any or 
all of these lights, Congress has no power under the constitution 
to create or destroy it anywhere ; nor can such power be de- 
rived from foreign laws, conquest, cession, treaty or the laws of 
nations, nor from any other source but an amendment of the con- 
stitution itself. 

25. Resolved, That the constitution confers no power upon Con-i 
gress to regulate or prohibit the sale and transfer of slaves be- 
tween the States. 

26. Resolved, That the reception, or consideration by Congress 
of resolutions, memorials or petitions from the States in which 
domestic slavery does not exist, or from the people of said States, 
in relation to the institution of slavery where it does not exist, 
with a view of effecting its abolition, or to impair the rights of 
those interested in it, to its peacefiil and secure enjoyment, is a 
gross abuse and an entire perversion of the right of petition as se- 
cured by the federal constitution, and if persisted in must and will 
lead to the most dangerous and lamentable consequences---that 
the right of petition for a redress of grievances as provided for by 
the constitution was designed to enable the citizens of the United 
States to manifest and make known to Congress the existence of 
evils under which they were suffering, whether afiecting them 
personally, locally or generally, and to cause such evils to be re- 



22 

dressed by the proper and competent authority, but was never de- 
signed or intended as a meanif of inflicting injury on others, or 
jeoparding the peaceful and secure enjoyment of their rights, 
whether existiiij: under the constitution or under the sovereignty 
and authority of the several States. 

27. Resolved. That it is the duty of Congress to provide effec- 
tual means of executing the 2d section of the 4th article of the 
constitution relating to the restoration of fugitives from ser^'ice 
or laboi-. 

•J^i. Resolved, That when this Convention adjourn, it adjourn to 
meet at Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, the 6th Monday 
after the adjournment of the present session of Congress, and that 
the Southern States be recommended to till their delegations 
forthwith. 



These resoluti(.u> were adopted by the unanimous vote of the 
whole Convention. 

The address was adopted by the Convention with only nine 
dissenting votes ; and the Convention closed its session on the 
i2th June with the following proceedings : 

Mr. McKae. of Miss., (tflered the following resolutions, which 
were imanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That the cordial thanks of this Convention are here- 
by tendered to the Odd Fellows of this city, for the generous offer 
•1' their Hall, lor the sitting of the Convention; and, also, our 
Dioht cordial thanks to the Trtistees ot the McKendree church for 
the use of their church for the meetings of the Convention, and 
that our gratitude for their kindness be expressed by recording this 
resolution on the journal of the Convention. 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention are hereby ten- 
dered to the Tennessee delegation for the prompt and kind man- 
ner in which they have provided everything requisite for carrying 
on with facility and convenience the Convention. Also, our 
thanks t<t the citizens of Nashville for their kind and generous 
hosjiitality during our stay among them — and our most cordial 
thanks to the tiiir ladies of this city, who have honored the sittings 
of the Convention with their beauty, and encouraged our deliber- 
ations with their smiles. 

Mr. (Gordon, of Va.. oflered the following resolutions, which 
were severally unanimously adopted : 

Rr.wlved, that the thanks of the Convention are given to the 
Reverend Clergy of Nashville, lor the prayers and benedictions 
offered during the sitting ot the Convention. 

Resolred, That the thanks of the Convention be tendered Hon. 
W. L Shark, y. President, and Hon. C. J. McDonald. Vice Presi- 
dent, for the able, dignified and impartial manner with which 
they have presided over its deliberations, and to the Secretaries, 
E. C. Ka«tnian and W . V. Cooper, for their valuable and efficient 



■«rvicc». 



23 

Mr. Buford, of Ala., introduced the following resolutions, which 
was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That as soon as Congress adjourns, it shall be the 
duty of the President of this Convention to publish notice of the 
time of its re -assemblage, as indicated in the resolution heretofore 
adopted. 

It was then moved that the Convention adjourn as aforesaid; 
which motion prevailed, and the President, thanking the Conven- 
tion for its complimentary resolution heretofore passed, and con- 
gratulating its members on the harmony which had characterised 
its deliberations, pronounced the Convention adjourned. 

W. L. SHARKEY, President. 

C. J. McDonald, vice President. 

W. F. Cooper, / rj 

r, r^ T^ becretanes. 

E. G. Eastman, ^ 



/ 



fJ^V' 



/ 



